Lee&nbspTait

Full Name

Background

Waikato Times story 11th September 2010Seventy-nine child sex offenders are living anonymously in the Waikato - 30 of them considered likely to reoffend. The figures, released to the Waikato Times by the Corrections Department under the Official Information Act have shocked the mother of one Waikato boy who was sexually abused. She says she is "scared for the community" and wants it known where the offenders live so people can protect their children. The figures show that as of June 30, 106 sex offenders were under supervision in the Waikato community with 79 of those having committed offences against children under 16 years.

Of those child-sex offenders, 30 were subjected to extended supervision orders, meaning they were assessed as being of a high risk of reoffending sexually against children. Extended supervision allows the Probation Service to monitor them for up to 10 years after release. They can be sent to prison for up to two years if they breach supervision. The numbers have not impressed the mother of a disabled teenage boy who was sexually abused by Hamilton man Lee Tait. Tait was sentenced to three and a half years' jail in June. The woman. who can't be named for legal reasons. said one day Tait would be out in the community again.

"I don't fear for [my son]. I'm really just concerned about [Tait] being out there and the risk of him re-offending," she said. "Even just talking about about it I have a scared feeling - scared for the community I guess. I think there's a real risk because it was horrendous [what he did] when you think about. Someone who can do that has a problem and I don't know if that can be fixed by a prison sentence." For that reason, she thought the public should be told where convicted sex offenders were living so they could protect their children. She acknowledged that some people would misuse that information to persecute or attack offenders - rather than to protect their loved ones.

There have been a number of instances where sex offenders have been singled out by communities. In 2007 a convicted paedophile, Glen Stinson, was beaten to death in a vigilante attack in Palmerston North. He was struck with a hammer, stomped on and choked to death and his battered body was left outside a Foxton chicken farm. Government agencies refused to give the Times a breakdown of the number of offenders in each Waikato town. "As the volume of offenders is low, the release of locations of offenders may make it possible to locate and identify individuals," Hamilton Community Probation Service general manager Katrina Casey said.

The service needed to protect the offenders' privacy so it would not release those details, she said. Ms Casey said each offender was assessed for their risk of reoffending before they were released from prison on supervision. Typically supervision restricted an offender's contact with children. Offenders were monitored to manage any escalating risk of re-offending or risk of harm to others. Mike Holloway, of the Hamilton-based Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust, said while the department may class the volume of offenders as low, the impacts were high. "Who should we ultimately be trying to protect? The paedophiles or our children?" Mr Holloway asked.

"The effect on our communities is devastating. These numbers again highlight the need for not only parents, but everyone to be vigilant in protecting our children from these predators." Mr Holloway understood that all child sex offenders had to be released back into the community eventually, and that was fine if they had received proper treatment prior to their release. "But there needs to be more information available so public are better informed and better safeguards put in place," he said. Sensible Sentencing Trust's Garth McVicar agreed and said the whole "secret squirrel" mentality was crazy.

"New Zealand is at a crossroads where we're saying that [sex offenders] can all be rehabilitated and that their privacy and human rights are paramount to the safety and protection of the community. "I think that ideology has ultimately got to change so that the safety of women and children is paramount to the privacy of offenders." Offenders had a choice - victims did not, he said. Mr McVicar was all for protecting the identity of first-time offenders - who were still at the stage where they could be rehabilitated. But not for recidivist offenders. "I believe New Zealanders are prepared to give people another go once - but not 50, 60, 70 or 80 times."

Alias

.

Date of Birth

unknown

Offences

Sexual abuse of a disabled teenage Hamilton boy under 16 in 2009

Current Location

Prison

Three Strikes Status

0

Victims

**Suppressed**

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang Affiliations

none known

Parole

Sentenced to 3 years 6 months in June 2010 Also ordered to pay $2000 to the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust (MSSAT) Waikato